Thoughts on Sequoia

Right now Nick and I are lounging around my sister's cool apartment around UC Irvine...but that's not what I'm here to talk about.  I'm here to tell you about Sequoia National Park!

Sorry, there won't be any pictures from our trip to Sequoia because I didn't take any worth sharing here.  But...here's a plug: if you wanna see pictures from my trip, I post some on my flickr.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on SNP.

We spent a very, very uncomfortable night sleeping cramped up in our car on the campsite so that we could get going to Sequioa ASAP.  We left at like 4:15 AM which was dark--in italics because I don't mean city dark, I mean pitch black crazy dark in the woods.  It was basically terrifying.  I drove my car on CA Highway 41 around the mountains in Yosemite.  It was pretty scary, but after that I basically felt assured that I am a good driver.

Even after that crazy drive in the dark through Yosemite, the drive up the mountains in Sequoia was pretty steep, terrifying, and lengthy.  The entrance to the park is in the foothills, but don't be fooled because the drive up to most of the campgrounds and anything of interest is much, much further up the mountain.

We left early in the morning, but we didn't get up to Sequoia until somewhere between 9-10AM.  Since we got there so late, that made it much more difficult to secure a camp site.  It's weird though that it was way, way harder to get a camp site at Sequoia than Yosemite.  I wonder why that is because Yosemite is much more popular and the camp sites at Sequoia were much larger (from what I could tell).

We stayed at Dorst campground, which was $20 a night...that's double the price at cheap campsites in Yosemite.  Also, without a reservation, at the Campgrounds at Sequoia a first-come-first-served spot can only be secured for one night...after that, you may have to move (or you may not be able to get  a site at all), which is a pain in the ass.

It turns out that a big campground=a noisy campground.  Eventually though, the people went to sleep and a bear came out to prowl.  If you've been to a national park in bear country, you know that park officials are constantly bombarding you with information and propaganda re: bears.  It actually got Nick and I pretty psyched out.  I was so afraid a bear was going to rip my car up because of all the bear warnings.  BEARS RIP CARS UP!! PUT YOUR FOOD AWAY!!!  It seems that the bear presence is much more prevalent in Sequoia than Yosemite.

Perhaps it isn't fair to compare the two, but I would have to say that I prefer Yosemite much more than Sequoia despite the fact that the latter park is better run overall.  The drive is just easier in Yosemite, there is much more to do and see, and the camp grounds are cheaper.  To be fair, I didn't check out the King's Canyon area of the park, but generally, I think most people would enjoy Yosemite much more.  Sorry Sequoia!